asteroid just as the lancers engaged their rail guns. Without line of sight, she was forced to rely on her screens.
“Direct hit, one down. One shook the lock,” she called out, but then it was game on.
Both Allen and Zero called out flight patterns. She responded on the fly, adapting her firing techniques to the flight profile and the cover from the asteroids around them. They played hide and seek with the lancers, trying to stay in shelter and inflict the maximum amount of damage without getting tagged themselves.
But nothing could last forever.
“Guys,” she called out in warning, cutting the rail guns as they slid behind another asteroid. “Running low on ammo. I have maybe two engagements left. We’re gonna need to make a break for it. Or we’re fucked. Seriously.”
8
❖
“Fuck!” Sparky, strapped into the seat next to him, spat. “She’s right. And we’re almost down to vapor on the fuel. We’re out of options, big man. Any ideas?”
Zero’s lips compressed into a thin line. He didn’t need to check the systems to know they were both telling the truth. As soon as he’d slid into the pilot’s seat and taken control, he’d known they had a snowball in hell’s chance of beating the three human ships. All they could do was evade and delay the inevitable.
Well… almost all they could do.
“Conserve fuel and ammo,” he ordered, adjusting the ship’s systems on the fly. Opening airlocks and depressurizing whole areas, he increased efficiency so their fuel would go further. At the same time, he used the long-range sensors to plot a course through the asteroid field. Multitasking was the beauty of being a cyborg. If someone had given him a broom, he could’ve swept the floor as well.
Then he felt the smallest tickle at the back of his onboard and smiled.
“Eris, I want you to bring the guns to bear on the following coordinates,” he ordered, rattling off a sequence in the human format. “Sparky, ready the ship for flight pattern Kilo-seven-five.”
Sparky jerked in his seat in surprise, turning to look at him even as he keyed in the sequence. “Sure about that, big man. That’s gonna put us flying through a whole fucking heap of rock when shotgun back there blasts that rock to hell. Our shields can’t take that load.”
“Trust me,” Zero shot back. There was no time to explain, so he just gunned the main engines. The instant the little ship shot from its hiding places and into the open, the lancers were on it, a warning tone ringing through the cabin as they got a torpedo lock.
Behind him, Eris bellowed a wordless war cry as she let loose with the guns, the rock in front of them exploding a second before they swung into where it had been at speed.
“We’re dead,” Sparky whispered. “We’re fucking dead. There had better be virgins in heaven or I want a refund.”
He felt the tension, the expectation in the air from both humans as they waited for the ship’s shields to get shredded by the shrapnel field where the asteroid had been. It was so thick he was surprised any of them could even breathe.
“Hey, Zero,” a new voice broke over the comm. T’Raal. “You look like you might be in a spot of bother. Need a hand?”
Zero grinned as the Sprite dropped out of high-speed right in front of them, the bigger ship extending its shields to deal with the shattered asteroid. The two ships side-slipped through the field, leaving it between them and the lancers trying to follow.
“Cutting it fine, Sprite,” he replied aloud for the benefit of the two humans in the cabin. “And yes, we’d welcome a hand here. Got ourselves a couple of dance partners that are a little clingy, if you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, well, Beauty was shopping, so we need to go back for him. Maintain current course and speed. We’ll be right back.”
“Roger that. Maintaining current speed and heading.”
The Warborne ship wheeled away, using a short hop to take it to the other side of the asteroid field before opening fire.
“My god,” Eris breathed, leaning forward in her chair to watch the battle on screen. “What kind of weaponry is that thing packing? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Little green men,” Sparky added wisely. “Although in the Warborne’s case, large and not at all green.”
“I dunno… sometimes Fin looks a little green around the gills when Red cooks,” Zero chuckled, a whole lot more comfortable now the Sprite had their backs.